F1 News Snippets

[Penfold]

Toffee Van Door and the Saubers taking same approach.  One stop or two?  Ultras then softs, or ultra/super soft/ultra?

[Penfold]

Williams losing Martini sponsorship end of the year: https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/17/williams-replace-martini-f1/

So that's Stroll & Sirotkin safe for now.

[Penfold]

Outwashing front wings could be banned for 2019 to reduce effect of driving in dirty air (though change needs approval of teams so probably won't happen): https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/17/outwashing-front-wing-designs-targeted-in-bid-to-increase-overtaking-in-2019/

[Chrill]

If introduced by end of April, it does not unanimous from what I understood.

[Chrill]

[Penfold]

Valerie going to have keep Toto keen with some sexy drives....

If introduced by end of April, it does not unanimous from what I understood.

So just voted through by Liberty and the FIA?  Sounds good to me.

[Chrill]

Penman. If you were Ricciardo and got offers from Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull, where would you rather go? You'd likely be seen as the second guy behind Hamilton, Vettel, and Verstappen.

You know you can take Vettel, you've done it before. You know Verstappen too. Hamilton is the only unknown in terms of driver pairings. Then there's the cars and their engines. What would be your pick?

[Penfold]

Good question.  Maybe Dan would take Vettel, maybe he wouldn't, I don't think Seb was at anything like his best in 2014 - although not like he was out-scored by someone such as Kvyat.  Besides, Dan is a top class F1 guy so he will just believe that he can beat anyone running the same machinery and that makes it all a car/engine decision for me (him).  Obvious choice based on recent years would be Merc, but with their engine advantage much reduced or even eliminated by Ferrari, and with Ferrari & Red Bull having chassis/aero packages at least their equal, I don't see the Silver Arrows as default top dogs any more.  So Ferrari... running extremely well as of now with engine, chassis, aero all working beautifully together, but can they keep it up?  When the new regs come into play in 2021 would you (Dan) be confident in Ferrari adapting better than their rivals, or would that honour go to Red Bull?  If there's to be less above-body aero post '21 and a higher reliance on underbody effects, does that tilt the game in Red Bull's favour?  Big issue for RB is engine... Renault or Honda?  I'm assuming they'll take the latter and that the Japanese offering will be up with the best - perhaps aided by the simpler engine design we'll likely see for 2021.  So, erm, yeah... Red Bull by a whisker for their aero/chassis talents.

[Chrill]

See, even though Danny Ric is Australian, he does come with Italian heritage. Which should make them red horses (of the prancing kind) very attractive. It is, after all, the team. However, come 2021, they may well drop down the order if we do see a budget cap getting introduced. Liberty seem serious about it, although some sort of silly compromise will probably make the cap less efficient than we could ask for.

[Penfold]

He can worry about the 'prestige' of driving for Ferrari when he's got a title or two under his belt.

[Chrill]

Bernie Ecclestone left a gift to many F1 circuits before retiring: Massive discounts for their upcoming races.
https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/25/ecclestone-parting-shot-liberty-f1-calendar-headache/

Liberty has to foot that bill, then.

[Penfold]

Must take issue with this line: "Bernie Ecclestone handed discounts to several of the sport?s most lucrative races shortly before he was eased aside."

Lucrative - adjective - (especially of a business, job, or activity) producing a lot of money.

Which races would one classify as lucrative?  Monaco with its zero Pound/Dollar/Euro/Yen hosting fee, but the rest of them seem to lose money on every race.

[Penfold]

Red Bull and Honda to have a chat about engines: https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/30/red-bull-honda-may-deadline-2019-engine-deal/

[Chrill]

Did the halo save a life? Maybe.

https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f2/news/how-the-halo-passed-its-first-major-test-1038622/

That photo is nasty.

[Penfold]

It may have stopped him getting a faceful of wheel, as would a full canopy.  One of them has the advantage of not looking like scaffolding.